Photo: New York Post
We just dearly love the story of young Akash Maharaj, the 26-year-old man who scammed his way into Yale University. The Yale Daily News reported yesterday that Maharaj had scammed the school out of some $31,750 in financial aid and will be charged with larceny and fraud. We thought it was a normal story of an Ivy League admissions committee’s being duped, until we read deeper into the story last night. Turns out it’s totally a tawdry and delicious tale. Maharaj may have done the same thing at Columbia (and, according to the Post, maybe NYU), but what’s better is this: He was exposed by his spurned gay lover. Maharaj’s boyfriend had discovered that the young man was lying about his age “and other issues relating to his identity” (please, when hasn’t that happened in a college relationship?), and threatened to break up with him. Maharaj then said he was going to kill himself, the boyfriend tried to get him psychiatric help, thereby drawing Maharaj’s threats upon himself. At that point, the boyfriend just called the dean, which resulted in criminal charges against his ex, and his expulsion from school (it should be noted that Maharaj denies all charges except for changing his age on his application). And then today, the YDN went around campus quizzing people about how they felt about the whole thing. “It’s unfortunate that somebody can basically steal the spot of somebody more deserving,” one student said. “It makes me second-guess the gate-keeping process,” said another. It’s so predictable: Ivy League kids worrying about riffraff getting into their schools at a time like this. Kids, you should be fretting about who is going to play you in the movie. Duh!
Student arrested for defrauding Yale [YDN via Gawker, NYP]
